Voters in at least one precinct in Mobile Co. Alabama were apparently given the wrong ballots on June 6. In precincts with split districts all voters were apparently given ballots for only one district. In one precinct 108 voters live in one district but no votes were voted for either candidate for State Representative. / The EAC is finally going to take over the testing and certification of voting systems. Will anything change? / ...

NAtional: EAC To Assume Oversight Of Voting System Testing And Certification LINK

**"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News" may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**

Lort! I'm so sick of petitioning my government that my brains fizz at the sight of each new opportunity, but I swallowed hard, followed the first link here, and asked my Congressman to do the right thing... he almost always does, but other people may really want to use that link to get the message to theirs! I even copied the link and spread it around to friends... half of whom don't think I'm so hysterical anymore... FINALLY. It may actually work.

Has anyone ever acquired more informatin about the mythical Shawn Southworth of Huntsville, Alabama, who is evidently the only person to certify voting machines used by millions upon millions of voters:

There are currently three certified laboratories that collectively constitute the “Independent Testing Authority” or ITA: Ciber, Wyle Labs, and Systest. Arguably this designation is a triple oxymoron. Their “independence” is compromised by the fact that the testing that takes place is paid for by the vendors, in effect making them the ITA’s “clients”. The testing process that does take place and the standards to which voting machines are tested are considerably weaker than other accepted standards for the security of computer-based products. The testing is done in secret and detailed results of the testing are not released for public scrutiny. As for the ITA being “authoritative” there’s little to support such a designation. While the testing of voting system software has been done by several different companies over the past decade the one consistent element is that the testing has always been done by an individual named Shawn Southworth ... operating out of Huntsville, Alabama and currently employed by Wyle Labs. Who is Shawn Southworth and what are his qualifications? We are not allowed to know. Like the rest of the process, Mr. Southworth’s credentials are shrouded in secrecy.

(link is in post #4). So, this one individual ends up working for whatever company is "doing the certification", and everything about him is secret.

If anyone wants to search the Colorado Secretary of State website for Ciber, Inc., CiberSoft Solutions, Inc., or verify the info I posted in #4-6, you can search here for info, by typing in "Ciber, Inc".

If anyone wants to search the Alabama Secretary of State website for Ciber, Inc., CiberSoft Solutions, Inc., or verify the info I posted in #4-6, you can search here for info, by typing in "Ciber".

When Ciber, Inc. shows up, click on it and the "Transaction List" button, and the SCB Computer Technology of Alabama, Inc name shows up as the alias they use in Alabama.

Wow, and they have had some surprising business relationships (such as no-bid contracts) that were "questioned":

Lawmakers were left scratching their heads Thursday morning after the Siegelman administration yanked nearly $15 million worth of computer-related contracts off a committee agenda.
...
SCB has listed Tom Coker, prominent in Montgomery lobbying circles, as its representative

(link here). And who would have guessed that Tom Coker contributes to republican candidates only (link here)?

Yessir, I'll keep him in my memory bank with the thousand other things, and pretty soon we will have us just one big conspiracy, with links
P.S. did you notice that Ciber was on the board of NASED while it was being set up, then jumped ship to start on testing ...after it helped to create the standards ?
hmmm...

And the last part of your #11 says, "What is significant is that the the electronic voting machine companies are owned or controlled by republicans, and the companies that certify them are also republicans."
Well, the sellers of the machines, propaganda and the election tactics are controlled by the Republicans too

Would one of you please answer Dixiecrat about King's wife? I know yer on fire here, but you could give a nod to a newcomer once in a while... a nice nod? I'm loving your links, but all of us need a little help once in a while.

I don't want to get too friendly until I can figure out if he is from KAOS or not
Otherwise join the fun Dix, I could use any brain-bandwidth you got, get into it, you'll enjoy the cars with the tinted windows driving by slow

Is this the Same Ernie?
Now he's in King County pushing crap while sounding like hes not
"October 03, 2005
Sewage day at the County Council

The King County Council is convening at 10am Monday to discuss the bogus audit of the Elections Office that is supposed to be released today. But first, the Council deals with a different kind of sewage --- Brightwater.

Tune in to KCTV for the live proceedings.

--

Lead auditor Ernie Hawkins is now speaking to the Council, still claiming that he performed an "A to Z" management review, focusing on exceptions and errors. How this weasel can say that with a straight face when he didn't bother to look at a single ballot or ballot envelope, is astonishing. Especially after he refused a Councilmember's request to examine boxes full of improperly processed ballot envelopes that were uncovered earlier this month.

Now he's focusing on irrelevant recommendations like "consolidate all your facilities". How would he know whether the facilities situation had any bearing on the ballot processing if he didn't bother to audit the work product?

His only interests in legal compliance is with accessiblity for Chinese voters and disabled voters. Never mind that all kinds of other laws affecting the entire population are routinely violated in King County.

Now he's recommending that King County lobby the legislature to change laws he doesn't like.

The Council spent $300,00 for this foolishness? I want to throw up.

Now he's talking about uncounted ballots that were found after certification. He says King County has fixed all the problems. But he refused to look at the additional uncounted ballots that were discovered a few weeks ago.

--

One highlight --- Bob Ferguson got Ernie Hawkins to admit that "he hasn't seen a worse" instance of security at an elections facility.

--

Councilwoman Patterson asked Hawkins whether he knew of any evidence of fraud or illegal activity. He answered that he wasn't, but left out the part that he refused to look at the potential evidence that was offered to him!

--

Now the Council is discussing whether to hire the Election Center to observe the November election. That would be an unfortunate waste of money. "Link

Sorry... losing my cookies... I meant #33, and I fixed my #35... sorry. I know how it is when you dive into something so absorbing. You should see me on the hunt for spammers in the archives. It's appalling.

I wanted to know if you thought Arry should be Brad's go-to guy up north. I was very impressed that he got to the bottom of the Vote Boycott Mole thing.

Anybody with trouble viewing C&L's clip of the John Dean interview might have better luck with this link.

Wow!! amen to John Dean, very compelling
Now thats what I'm talking about, as far as to defeat your enemy you have to know them, some old Conservatives are going to read that book and say "I've seen the enemy, and it is me" (I hope)

This thread shows that no matter what company one goes to to have an EVM certified, one person does the certification. How large of a "conspiracy" is that anyway:

There are currently three certified laboratories that collectively constitute the “Independent Testing Authority” or ITA: Ciber, Wyle Labs, and Systest. Arguably this designation is a triple oxymoron. Their “independence” is compromised by the fact that the testing that takes place is paid for by the vendors, in effect making them the ITA’s “clients”. The testing process that does take place and the standards to which voting machines are tested are considerably weaker than other accepted standards for the security of computer-based products. The testing is done in secret and detailed results of the testing are not released for public scrutiny. As for the ITA being “authoritative” there’s little to support such a designation. While the testing of voting system software has been done by several different companies over the past decade the one consistent element is that the testing has always been done by an individual named Shawn Southworth … operating out of Huntsville, Alabama and currently employed by Wyle Labs. Who is Shawn Southworth and what are his qualifications? We are not allowed to know. Like the rest of the process, Mr. Southworth’s credentials are shrouded in secrecy.

Good article Dredd,
I found a Ciber, kinda reminds me of FDOT
Don't know yet if theres a link or not to them, but they do the solutions for the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control board
Think thats the same one?

My post #8 shows that Ciber, Inc. does business in Alabama under a different name in many instances.

But the point is not not not about the three ITA companies, it is about ONE PERSON who signs all the certification docs no matter what company is alleged to be doing the certification. And that one person is a republican operative.

Which means republicans own and or operate in whole or in significant part, all voting machine makers, and all companies that certify the machines they make.

There are so many Corporations and Governmental agencies
involved in this
What is the common thread ? other than the election process
It's like trying to untangle a knot in a bunch of old wires that have been dragged down the highway across the country

I hope Bev Harris don't mind if I link to this but it has meaning, she actually talked to Doug Lewis,and he didn't want to give out Shawns last name, there are two others involved but not like Shawn at Ciber

Scroll down to the phone conversation between Bev and DougLink
I hope Bev has a line on Ernie Hawkins, I'd like to find out more about him and who is doing Californias (cough) testing

Well I found an E-mail list you might want to look at
Probably more important to you as you are probably light years ahead of me
It might be nothing, but this set my hair on fire

"Which of your two categories, intentional undervotes or computer error, do
you think account for this tremendous decrease in residual votes. We think
that the decrease is due to a third possibility: the ease of using the DRE
voting station. We also think that the remaining 0.39 % is mostly
intentional." Link

Yes, I know all about Williams. He has a PhD.in Political Science and is the head of the Kennesaw State Univ. (Georgia) voting systems group. He is also the chief apologist for Cathy Cox and Diebold in Georgia. He has no credibility at all.

Perhaps those reading these posts in this thread will see that we bloggers are incredulous when we look at the major, in your face, out in the open, and decades old scam of criminal events that we like to call election systems in the United States.

We are bringing it up because we are hurt, betrayed, and angry. And we damn sure want it made right NOW!!!

Thanks John and Dredd, I've been digging and this (kid?) did a reposting of some article or another, I thought it was interesting
it will definitely bring the newbies up to speed, and I learned a little more myself

#54 Dredd, thats exacly where I'm headed, reading and learning things as I go, but so many twists and turns, Thats where Williams popped up
with the common thread being Eisenhowers warning (if you get my drift)

Yep, have you read BBV's chapter that mentions mystery man Shawn? It adds a few more ITA company names that do EVM certifications ... and guess what ... yep ... mystery man Shawn works for them too! (link here, PDF). Search for "southworth".

I checked out your other links ... wow ... this guy's stuff may have been scrubbed from the web ... they knew someday we would be looking didn't they?

"Shawn Southworth, Senior Toolpusher, explains how dual activity works on the Discoverer Enterprise to a group of investment analysts, who toured the
ultra-deepwater drillship in early April. From left to right are: Ronnie Gombert of USAA Investment Management, Shawn Southworth, Jim Orser of Luther
King Capital Management, Jim Shope of 1838 Investors, Joe Basset of Bank One, and Rahin S. Kassim-Lakha of U.S. Global Investment. In addition, Jon
Cole, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Jeff Chastain, Director of Investor Relations and Communications, and Eric Brown, Vice President, General
Counsel and Secretary, participated in the tour, which included presentations by several crewmembers and lunch."
This was in 2000,

it is a caption below a photo

I can't get the photo, so you have to download the whole thing
Hard to tell if its the same guy (HADHAT, SAFETY GLASSES), but wouldn't it be interesting... probably innocent enough, but on the other hand, he might have warts

I know we gotta figure him out, but I think he is a pawn
in a much larger game, he is expendable, I really don't think he knows shit, and thats what they need in a (cough) tester, I mean just look at that beak
Its the outfit he works for

Them other two guys, Doug Lewis and Ernie Hawkins seem more fishy to me because they're on the board that makes up the rules, and run these two obscure voting centers...hmmm, I wonder what Ernies voting center looks like...Probably his old outhouse out back, converted.
He probably tests the machines by slamming the old toilet lid down on them, WTF ?
This privatization thing makes researching harder to do and a hell of a lot more open to tampering because anyone can convert an old gas station or whatever into a voting center, I mean can you believe it, this is the US !!!, if the media would say something like "Old gas station turned into voting center where they test and install the machines, and tell you that they're good" , I'll bet a lot of people would freak out, I know I am

...and up north, where a little more cold air wafts through the brain to ensure clear thinking, they have to be more subtle, there they use the IFES to have a little more seemliness of being on the up and up, and that is no less a group run by Republican operatives

The Nixon administration learned that he and some radical friends were talking about organizing a national concert tour to coincide with the ... election campaign, a tour that would combine rock music and radical politics, during which Lennon would urge young people to register to vote, and vote against the war, which meant, of course, against Nixon.

Sometimes I think I am reliving my teen years in the 60's, but in those daze we put the Attorney General in prison, and made Nixon resign. One person said:

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

(link here). There was a lot of political will then, and if this blog is any indicator, we still have political will. Hey, since the preznit suggested we spent money in response to 911 I purchased Neil Young's CD 'Livin with war', and went to see Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

I decided to download the 6.6 meg file (post #61) to take a look.

And I am going to try to look thru some clerk files in courts and counties ... like you did on voter registration (post #56).

Someone just tried to burglarize my rig and pad. My pal saw them and called the cops, and gave the license number to the 9-1-1 operator but could not remember it. Of scores of cars, mine was the only one they approached. When he yelled at them they fled.

While perusing Alabama clerks, courts, etc. I came across Alabama election law. Shawn Southworth is certifying machines that are illegal in Alabama:

No voting machine shall be installed for use in any election in this state unless it shall satisfy the following requirements:
...
(12) It shall be provided with a lock or locks, by the use of which, immediately after the polls are closed, or the operation of the machine for an election is completed, all movement of the registering mechanism is absolutely prevented.
...
(14) It shall, when properly operated, register or record correctly and accurately every vote cast.
...
(18) It shall be so constructed and controlled that, during the progress of voting, it shall preclude every person from seeing or knowing the number of votes registered for any candidate, and from tampering with any of the registering mechanism.
...Before any voting machine is purchased, rented or leased, the person or corporation owning or manufacturing such machine must give an adequate guarantee, in writing, securing that such machines comply fully with the above requirements and will correctly, accurately and continuously register and record every vote cast.

Secretary of State Bill Jones and two California counties have contracted with VoteHere.net to supply its online voting technology for pilots in Sacramento and San Diego, two of the state's largest counties. VoteHere.net has teamed with Compaq Computer Corporation to deliver complete solutions for the state-sponsored pilots. This will be the first public sector online voting trial in California.

"We are pleased to be working with Secretary of State Bill Jones, Sacramento Registrar Ernie Hawkins, and San Diego Registrar Mikel Haas on this project," said Jim Adler, president and CEO of VoteHere.net."

Whoa! Blow me away! Thanks, Dredd, for directing my attention to this thread yesterday - I didn't have a chance to catch up on it until just now, but man, you folks are doin' a heckuva job of investigative blogging out there! I'll bet that out of the 6 or 7 of us out there someone will one day manage to put together a cute little docudrama about the first few years of BradBlog, and the astounding tidal wave that is about to change the world forever, but in the meantime, we're witnessing history in the brewing. No longer can they run, no longer can they hide! I can't wait til we catch up with Kennyboy...

"He has served on the Federal Election Commission's Advisory Panel since 1998 and was a member of the CERUS Steering Committee for the International Foundation for Election Systems in 2001. He also currently serves on the Advisory Board for Electionline." bold added

"Diebold and all the other major national voting machine companies are owned or controlled by Republicans with close ties to President Bush! WHAT IS LESS WELL KNOWN is that the National Independent testing laboratories (ITAs) that the states are depending on to test and certify these systems are ALSO OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY REPUBLICANS WITH CLOSE TIES TO PRESIDENT BUSH!!!"

Good find, man!!! What is so troubling about this is the "Eisenhowers Warning" part (we should all know what this means by now, if not Link), makes a guy feel pretty insignifigant in the "scheme" of this going on in our country today

Its still so funny I was talking to my cousin before the '04 elections, I asked him if he was going to vote, he said matter of factly, "Why bother, they already know who is going to win anyways"
The dude never looks at the news, just farms, probably only gets the news off of the tractor radio (he's very smart just by his wits)
the point is, more than just us know about it, even by speculation

What do you think the reasons are for doing it,
National security?
Nah, Greed and Power
These are not the American Values I grew up to
(even if it was going on behind my back)
I guess we can only post on Alex Jones site now, eh?

Ken from Diebold doesn't like it, at least Link "My unsolicited two cents is that this is a crazy way to run an election. Expecting jurisdictions to train for and administer two systems is just nuts. It is the worst of a paper-based election with the worst of an electronic election. I wouldn’t worry too much about whether GEMS can receive results from two systems simultaneously. Even if that were the case, we could always fix GEMS. I’d be worried about whether poll workers can send them."

"If the answer is “loss leader to get our foot in the door” then all-the-power. I sure hope this loss, and the risk of running bad elections due to their lunatic setup (two systems and two vendors) is worth it. I sure hope these counties are prepared to pay support fees to two companies, both of which should be higher due to the added logistics. They should also be prepared to make a spectator sport out of the finger pointing on election night."Link

"Testing is fine, but I would try to talk them out of using it live. It was a “Florida Thing™” only. Curtis Chong of the National Federation of the Blind absolutely hates the feature, and I tend to agree with him. I added it under duress, and feel badly any time I see it being used." Talking about using the undervote feature?

Dredd, you did snotice in post #93 that Shawn took over for...well heres the quote, "Grazi Luhmann at Nichols will attempt to review as much documentational material as possible in the next few weeks before she retires, setting the stage for Shawn Southworth, who is in the process of reorganizing the entire effort under the auspices of PSINet." That was in '01
another direction to go

The case is primarily about how to interpret state statutes that criminalize sexual discussions and depictions in the context of protecting juveniles.

An added dimention is present ... how can one state legislate control of the internet:

In order to avoid being too burdensome on protected speech, the statute cannot, by the Commonwealth’s own admission, protect Virginia juveniles from foreign or out-of-state Internet materials, regulate non-commercial Internet materials, or regulate materials posted on bulletin boards or in chat rooms.

(Page 16, PDF). This is because the internet overlaps states, nations, continents, etc., where states have no jurisdiction. One judge put it:

The content of the Internet is analagous to the content of the night sky. One state simply cannot block a constellation from the view of its own citizens without blocking or affecting the view of the citizens of other states.

(id., at page 20 PDF).

I did not see anything exactly on point as to Shawn the EVM Wizzard of Odds !

They (Brad blog sleuths) were looking for something on Shawn Southworth, mystery man who tests ALL our voting systems....every last one of them. They felt he was a repub operative but were not finding all the dots to connect... I decided to look for family members. and I don't know-- but check out what I found!!!!

First I hit on this french article about Lucy Southworth dating Larry Page of Google...but something else there caught my eye...

"But there's a tidbit that somehow didn't make it into the Post --- the Southworth family is connected to the Bushes. In 2005, Lucy's sister Carrie married high into Bush staff. Her husband (Coddy Johnson) worked as the national field director for Bush's 2004 campaign. It's not a new family connection --- Coddy's dad roomed with Bush at Yale."

Yikes?

She (Carrie Southworth) is also on that list of people the Bushes have spent the night at the Bush White House...

I don't know but--- seems like there might be some family connection here to Shawn who is mysteriously absent from most search capabilities... Shouldn't be too hard to find out in any case.

I don't blog at Brad so if you want to take this to them to check it (Floridiot should run with it) go ahead.

Oooh, turns out the guy the Southworth girl married (Carrie Southworth that is) is Bush's GODSON! LOL

He's almost right out of central casting. His real name is "Collingsworth Johnson" --- he was a big LaCrosse player at Yale! Collingsworth Johnson... I love it-- it's so... white? So Waspy. So for short he goes by "Coddy". Even better. Coddy Johnson.

Read this-- it's from the 2000 campaign, seems Coddy was involved for quite some time with the bushies. Here is how they lied to the coal miners to take West Virginia and other areas:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Raney also urged Mr. Kimbler to focus his anger on Mr. Gore.

Initially cool to the vice president, the UMW (United Mine Workers) eventually endorsed him. But Mr. Kimbler, a lifelong Democrat, bucked his union's leaders. "Al Gore was an extreme environmentalist, and if he won, he'd shut down the whole state," Mr. Kimbler says. By early 2000, Mr. Raney was driving Mr. Kimbler around West Virginia to make joint pro-Bush pitches to miners and executives.

A Godson's Influence

Mr. Harless's effort to persuade the Bush campaign that West Virginia was winnable got a boost when Austin-based Bush aide Collister "Coddy" Johnson was assigned to track West Virginia. Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bush's godson, worked under Robert "Mike" Duncan, a regional captain who was pushing a strategy aimed at industrial states in the Ohio River Valley. Dubbed "cars and coal," the strategy involved reaching out to auto workers, miners and others resentful of Mr. Gore's environmental stances. Impressed by Messrs. Harless, Raney and Kimbler, Mr. Johnson urged the campaign to take the state seriously.

The Bush campaign had designated veterans and defense as the day's theme, but the West Virginians persuaded Austin officials to add coal to the mix. Campaign aides scheduled the candidate for a brief photo session with Messrs. Raney and Kimbler on the runway just before Mr. Bush left for Philadelphia --- a meeting that ended up lasting 20 minutes. The men say Mr. Bush took notes as they discussed mountaintop mining and coal country's battered economy. Mr. Raney says Mr. Bush expressed a desire to see West Virginia's unemployed coal miners back at work.

"He told me then that if he carries West Virginia he will ... get everything straightened out," Mr. Kimbler recalls.

"I stuck with George Bush because he is truthful, and I could tell that the first time I met him. He's just an old country boy."

Hours later, campaign manager Don Evans, now commerce secretary, surprised Mr. Kimbler by calling him from the convention floor to say coal was important to Mr. Bush's vision of the future. Mr. Evans also called Mr. Raney. "He asked us, 'How do we put the wheels on this thing so we can win West Virginia?' " Mr. Raney recalls.

The result was the Balanced Energy Coalition for Bush-Cheney, a group headed by Messrs. Raney and Kimbler. In the early fall, the coalition held a conference call with Mr. Evans in which members complained about delayed mining permits and a recent Bush campaign statement favoring limits on power plants' carbon-dioxide emissions. The group also lobbied employers, including Mr. Harless, to send letters to workers explaining energy issues in ways that hinted that voting for Mr. Bush would be in the employees' best interest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A vote for bush = a vote for miners

Yeah right. That one should go directly to the Dept of Lessons Learned.

We have to go easy and slow, being right out in the open and all
"walking on thin ice" you might say
If ms in la is legit, she might get the connection accidently from the other side of Ciber I'm hoping
I didn't quit, I have some medical obligations to take care of for me and the kids